Hi folks.
I'm new to the forum and new to building an axe. Here's my first try.
A friend has a woodlot and we have enjoyed falling and bucking trees by hand there. We have done this mostly with a camp axe – small enough for weekend warriors like us to swing for a half day without killing ourselves. Anything heavier would wear us out too quick, but we did find this little axe a bit small to really satisfy.
We have loved Dudley Cook’s “The Ax Book” – his writing style and the very clear descriptions of how to do stuff took us right in. Cook pushed a couple of points hard: that most axes are too heavy for most people to use efficiently, and: that the curved handles that are the norm on single-bitted axes today are fundamentally inaccurate, and therefore inefficient.
This set me on a long search for a 3 pound head. I was lucky to find a Hytest head that fit the bill, for $2 at a garage sale recently. It is a generous 2 ¾ or lean 3 pound head, depending on your outlook. I cleaned it up with wet and dry paper, revealing the remains of a number 2 on one side (2 ¾ mark maybe – Cyclone/Hytest made a boy’s axe in this size, from what I understand?).
On the brand side there are 3 deep pits, which have old Cyclone green paint in them. Suggests that they are a manufacturing defect, rather than corrosion or abuse. The green paint and the good resistance I got filing and honing this head encourages me that it has never been burned or put on a grinder. The poll shows a lot of abuse though.
I bought a spotted gum mattock handle and cut it down to size, so that could get something straight and hard. This took ages. I used one of the offcuts to cut a wedge. I rubbed through paper to make a template for the eye-size of the axe, then glued this onto the head-end of the handle, as a guide for me to work to. This worked very well for me. Clamping the handle to a rail in an upright position made it easier to do the final shaping on the head-end , and also got me around the problem of not having a useful vise. I used Cook’s table of straight-handle dimensions to size the handle. Lots of hard labour with a rasp to get there.
The final product (yet to be tested) is kind of Cook’s ideal axe for a lightweight/casual – 3 pound head on a straight 32 inch (80cm) handle. Looking forward to cutting something down and up with it. (But more likely, using it to rescue the chainsaw).
Thanks all for looking – Jonah (Tasmania, Australia).
I'm new to the forum and new to building an axe. Here's my first try.
A friend has a woodlot and we have enjoyed falling and bucking trees by hand there. We have done this mostly with a camp axe – small enough for weekend warriors like us to swing for a half day without killing ourselves. Anything heavier would wear us out too quick, but we did find this little axe a bit small to really satisfy.
We have loved Dudley Cook’s “The Ax Book” – his writing style and the very clear descriptions of how to do stuff took us right in. Cook pushed a couple of points hard: that most axes are too heavy for most people to use efficiently, and: that the curved handles that are the norm on single-bitted axes today are fundamentally inaccurate, and therefore inefficient.
This set me on a long search for a 3 pound head. I was lucky to find a Hytest head that fit the bill, for $2 at a garage sale recently. It is a generous 2 ¾ or lean 3 pound head, depending on your outlook. I cleaned it up with wet and dry paper, revealing the remains of a number 2 on one side (2 ¾ mark maybe – Cyclone/Hytest made a boy’s axe in this size, from what I understand?).
On the brand side there are 3 deep pits, which have old Cyclone green paint in them. Suggests that they are a manufacturing defect, rather than corrosion or abuse. The green paint and the good resistance I got filing and honing this head encourages me that it has never been burned or put on a grinder. The poll shows a lot of abuse though.
I bought a spotted gum mattock handle and cut it down to size, so that could get something straight and hard. This took ages. I used one of the offcuts to cut a wedge. I rubbed through paper to make a template for the eye-size of the axe, then glued this onto the head-end of the handle, as a guide for me to work to. This worked very well for me. Clamping the handle to a rail in an upright position made it easier to do the final shaping on the head-end , and also got me around the problem of not having a useful vise. I used Cook’s table of straight-handle dimensions to size the handle. Lots of hard labour with a rasp to get there.
The final product (yet to be tested) is kind of Cook’s ideal axe for a lightweight/casual – 3 pound head on a straight 32 inch (80cm) handle. Looking forward to cutting something down and up with it. (But more likely, using it to rescue the chainsaw).
Thanks all for looking – Jonah (Tasmania, Australia).
